1. Field
The present invention relates generally to the management of network devices utilizing an authorization token.
2. Relevant Background
Currently, universal integrated circuit cards (UICCs) are owned, managed, and distributed by a particular mobile network operator (MNO) and are removable from the network device (e.g., a cell phone). For example, if a network device owner wants to change a subscription service to a different MNO, the network device owner needs to remove the UICC and put in a new UICC from the new service provider (e.g., another MNO). This is a costly and time consuming process. Further, in many machine-to-machine (M2M) use cases, such as, smart meters or wireless modems in a car, changing the UICC likewise requires a great deal of work and is very costly.
Embedded universal integrated circuit cards (eUICCs) are currently being considered for use in network devices (e.g., cell phones, tablets, M2M devices, etc.) which may reduce costs and eliminates the need to remove and replace UICCs from network devices. However, embedded UICCs (eUICCs) for use in network devices present many challenges related to ownership management, subscription management, as well as, security issues. As a particular example, techniques to prevent unauthorized entities from loading, enabling, disabling, and/or deleting services and profiles need to be addressed as well as techniques to allow authorized entities to enable services and manage profiles. This is pertinent both for user-controlled network devices (e.g., cell phones) as well as M2M devices that a user typically does not physically interact with.